Variant RPGaDay - 22, 23, and 24

When I first started lining up the games and the NPC ideas that I was going to run with for this series, I was actually looking forward to this one. Werewolf is one of my favourite games, and was actually my gateway into the World of Darkness when I first bought the original slashed paperback first edition in 1992.

Batch 8 - Werewolf the Apocalypse

Werewolf was one of the fiurst games I had encountered that used the cultures of the real world to flavour it's characters... Celts, Russians, Greek Myth, Native Anerican, and others...while a lot of that cultural referencing seems a bit trite now, some have claimed appropriative, even ethnophobic or racist, it made solid attempts for the time and those early steps led to more nuanced portrayals that couldn't have come without it. I still love the game and would love to make a revised version, rather than what we seem to be getting from the new publishers. The old versions of the game, and especially the variant breed books depicting werecats, werealligators, werefoxes and other shifters.

For the moment a pack of three NPCs... A generation ago, the apocalypse was impending, there was still a chance to hold it off and prolong the decline, or even reverse it. But now humanity has taken things too far, the tipping point has been passed and there is no turning back. These three are just trying to pick up the pieces of a broken world, that is literally falling apart around them, in the hope that they can pass something on to a new world when it is reborn.

Instinct – Grit – Full of Grace (Red Talon Theurge)

Born a wolf, in the wilderness of the Northern Ukraine, Burning Shadows has roamed through the irradiated zones of Chernobyl and has lived through years of confusing human warfare between the Russian and Ukranians. She doesn't understand the conflicts over imaginary lines in the real world, but she sees the ramifications in the umbral spirit realms, and just wants it to end.

"Burning Shadows" 

Goal: To stop the impact of human conflicts in the spirit realms, by whatever means necessary. The spirits have long since gone insane, fracturing the shadow realms and impacting back on the physical. If she has to kill humans to do the job, then so be it.

Obstacle: For every person she deals with, it seems that two more take their place. Burning Shadows is starting to succumb to ennui as she realises this fight is clearly bigger than something that can be handled alone or with her pack.

Strength: She has learned to command spirits, but is proving more successful with soothing them to restore balance in the spirit realm. This is proving quite effective in the short term...

Weakness: ...however, the feedback loop in the physical world is preventing long term change from occurring. She has little understanding of human politics or culture, and while she is determined to fix things, she still sees the humans as naive infants who don't know what they're doing to the world.

 

Instinct – Fortune – Full of Woe (Bone Gnawer Philodox)

"Cleans the Street" was born in the back alleys of some Eastern European city. He can't remember which one, because his family moved around a lot. When he was young, his family were gunned down due to gang violence and simply being in the wring place at the wrong time. He was found by another family who had Romani blood, and a lineage shared with the Silent Striders. They considered him a lucky charm and raised him with one of their own wolf-blooded offspring.

"Cleans the Streets" 

Goal: "Cleans the Streets" wants to find the gang that killed his family, and wants to bring justice to them... but beyond that wants to bring justice to any similar gangs who might bring harm to the communities around them. He sees most military groups as being government sponsored gangs in this regard.

Obstacle: He doesn't even know which city the gang was in, so he just moves through the cities of Eastern Europe, trying to do what's right and prevent the violence that contributes to the downward spiral of the world.

Strength: "Cleans the Streets" has a network of contacts across many cities, and if he doesn't know someone on the ground in a given city, he probably knows someone who knows someone. There's always jibs to do and a web of favours that need to be repaid. 

Weakness: His sense of justice often brings him into conflict with powerful figures, and he is rarely able to stay in one place for long. His focus in the issues of the physical world has also limited his power in the spirit realms.

Instinct – Distance – Far to Go (Silent Strider)

Aleska "Broken Chord" Molnar was taught from a young age that someone needs to know where they've come from is they want to know where they are and here they are heading. So she learned the songs of the past, the stories of the people around her and the complex web of folklore tales that bound communities together. She knows that there is little hope left in the world, but struggles to rekindle the lost sparks. When her family found "Cleans the Streets" she knew a bond would be formed between them, and when they found "Burning Shadows", a pack was formed. She doesn't particularly want to lead but feels it is her duty to temper their urges toward more positive ends if they want to move forward in a word that otherwise seems lost.

Goal: To remind the people of the world that positive actions can make a difference, and to spread that positivity as far as possible. "Broken Chord" wants to share the songs and stories to shoe that there are still links between the people of the world and that the world needs harmony if it hopes to improve.

Obstacle: Ethnocentrism, racism, partisanship, religious fervour... all of these are obstacles that humanity uses to sow dissent and hatred. She has seen them all, and knows that these need tpo be dealt with before true progress can be made.

Strength: "Broken Chord" has a photographic memory for stories and songs, she can relate the messages in them and can see the links between the stories. She has even begun working on ways to relate these stories to the spirits of the world to re-incorporate those spirits into their natural order. With her pack this seems to be making enough small differences to bring hope back into the world.

Weakness: Locked into the stories and traditions of the past, "Broken Chord" sometimes struggles with new ideas and innovation. She refuses to believe that the world has reached its end, and fights to turn back the clock, even though she knows this is not the way and that the cycle must always move forward.